The Orchard Poem by Neil Graham Marsden

Across the ripe orchard there echoed the sound
frustration the axe biting through to hard ground.
His holed cup of plenty was dwindling fast
knowing that one sip might well just be his last.

His anger and torment were dredging his soul
the fight against fate having taken its toll.
Only the muffled drum beckoned him then
the last post and requiem, calling him when.

That page in their diaries is reading its last
his mind racing wildly on back through the past.
That day in life's annals way back when they met
and wrote out love's contract, un-payable debt.

Your love it lay deeper than gift-tags and life
this sea full of comfort, this love for his wife.
The spark of your children was only a part
Of love that was burned by you brazing each heart.

The next day a prelude to more love to come
each passionate embrace the more he'd succumb.
With Love's limitations now all cast aside
enchanted the bridegroom and honoured the bride.

He treasured your being, awaiting the hour
in sleep you would close your eyes, retiring flower.
To bask in your breathing and bathe in your creams
chased shadowy contours, and beckoning dreams.

Each sleep sodden breath one more moment elapsed
your love giving hands firmly warmed in his grasp.
Watched soft breathing enter then exit divine
her love and her presence all his for all time.

His one wish for her, that on her dying day
that his hand holding hers will chase all fears away.
To know her young man is the old of today
that worships her being in just the same way.